Ordained in 1827, he served as pastor of the First Pres­by­ter­i­an Church in Tren­ton, New Jer­sey (1829–32). He became Professor of Rhetoric at Prince­ton (1833); pastor of the Duane Street Pres­by­ter­i­an Church, New York (1844); Professor of Church History at Prince­ton (1849); and pastor of the 5th Avenue Pres­by­ter­i­an Church, New York (1851). His works in­clude:

A Gift to the Afflicted, 1835

Thoughts on Family Worship, 1847

The American Mechanic and Workingman, 1847

Sacramental Addresses, 1854

he Revival and Its Lessons, 1859

Sacramental Discourses (New York: An­son D. F. Ran­dolph, 1860)

Thoughts on Preaching, 1861

The Breaking the Crucible; and Other Translations of Ger­man Hymns (posthumous) (New York: 1861)